proletarian

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˌproʊləˈtɛriən/ UK /ˌprəʊləˈteəriən/ See IPA manual

adj noun

Meanings

1

adj
relating to the working class; a member of the working class

The novel championed proletarian struggle against the factory owners.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · relating to the working... worker laborer plebeian commonerworking-classblue-collar

Opposites

bourgeois aristocrat capitalist patrician

Word family

Derived forms proletarianizeproletarianism

Related forms proletariat

Etymology

From Latin proletarius ('a citizen of the lowest class, who served the state only by producing offspring'), from proles ('offspring'), from pro- ('forth') + the root of alere ('to nourish').

proletarius Latin proles Latin *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

# proletarian

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj, noun
**IPA (US):** ˌproʊləˈtɛriən
**IPA (UK):** ˌprəʊləˈteəriən

## Meanings
1. relating to the working class; a member of the working class

## Examples
- The novel championed proletarian struggle against the factory owners.

## Synonyms
- worker
- laborer
- plebeian
- commoner
- working-class
- blue-collar

## Antonyms
- bourgeois
- aristocrat
- capitalist
- patrician

## Derived Forms
- proletarianize
- proletarianism

## Related Forms
- proletariat

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: proletarius
- Root: proles
- Root: *h₂el-

## Etymology
From Latin proletarius ('a citizen of the lowest class, who served the state only by producing offspring'), from proles ('offspring'), from pro- ('forth') + the root of alere ('to nourish').

## AI Etymology
Proletarian is from Latin proletarius ('a citizen of the lowest class, who served the state only by producing offspring'), from proles ('offspring'), from pro- ('forth') + the root of alere ('to nourish'). Important recorded forms include proletarius (Latin), proles (Latin), and *h₂el- (Proto-Indo-European). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers relating to the working class; a member of the working class. The wider family includes derived forms such as proletarianize and proletarianism and related words such as proletariat.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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proletarian

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